Boundless Compassion
The next few weeks will contain what I have come to realize as the needed prescription for bringing in the new – for revealing the Renaissance that wants to come forth from a time of swift change and crippling loss. It is clear to me that relying on the previous solutions to bring change is folly. If not, a more perfect union would have already formed. Last week we began with a vision – and taking note of what we are longing for as that is the spiritual formless beginning to any vision – longing.
Years ago I worked for the visionary behind the seamless Cellular (now wireless) network. This was a man who was all about business building and success but at the base was something deeper. He saw work without wires as a way to bring freedom to workers…to finally have a way to do your work without being tied to a location or a fixed point in time. It was somehow incorporated into every presentation and every discussion with investors – the grand idea of being free to work on the beach or at home. I am sure he never saw the last two years in his vision however, his vision allowed a great deal to be done in the last two years.
Freedom is for everyone – not just the economically advantaged. In order to build something new or solve in a new way, we need freedom and its partner – boundless compassion. Boundless for me means it applies across the board- to those we already agree with and have in our contacts list; and those we don’t understand and almost can’t bear to consider. When we look at the social contract in this moment, we can see that compassion is not showing up, at least through the media. It is almost an underground movement rather than an absolute requirement.
With compassion, we see the other as ourselves, – all longing for something – and that includes freedom. Yet we have somehow placed individual freedom as the requirement and when mine clashes with yours, the trouble begins.
Boundless compassion means I open my heart (not just my mind) to what is important to you – I listen beyond the words, and I see you as someone who is a compilation of coagulated thought – longing for a way out. (not an evil sob who is clueless) When we have boundless compassion we are free to keep trying things…to laugh at our misperceptions …to join each other in the grand journey of mutuality.
It is the secret sauce that Nelson Mandela applied to apartheid leadership – it is the way Gandhi saw British rule – the vision of freeing each other from our own prison of outdated modes of being.
You may want to begin this practice close to home or in a larger circle. Consider making a list of all the people for whom you need to apply boundless compassion. Sit quietly and consider how they see things and how they feel about life. Then consider giving them many chances and spaces to open their hearts freely because they have been embraced in your boundless heart.
Next week – Step 2 in the prescription.
